National News

Defiant pastor promises to hold beach service after town denies permit

(Dave Urbanski) A church pastor was looking to have eight weeks of early morning Sunday morning services this summer on Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.

But after Robert Dekker of New Covenant Presbyterian Church in nearby Lewes, Del., wrote the Rehoboth Beach city manager for a permit to perform the services, this is reportedly the written reply he received:

“I am so sorry to inform you that I cannot grant your request to have church services on the public beach in Rehoboth. I cannot mix Church and State. I trust you understand. Wishing you the very best.”

But that’s not the end of the story.

Dekker tells radio station WXDE-FM that he will be preaching a sermon on July 4 on that very beach that he’s titling “Line in the Sand.”